


send you yellow flowers when the sky is grey

by andfinallywearehome



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Enchanted!AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21503767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andfinallywearehome/pseuds/andfinallywearehome
Summary: “A habit of yours, huh, honey?”“Well,” Riley replies, smiling slightly, “usually someone is around to catch me.”(or, the one where riley is a real disney princess and maya is both confused and in love)
Relationships: Maya Hart/Riley Matthews
Comments: 6
Kudos: 179





	send you yellow flowers when the sky is grey

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a hot minute since i've done anything, but i'm reappearing from the ether with some gmw content to try and get back into the groove of writing rilaya. 
> 
> title is from the Enchanted soundtrack, and i own nothing.

The last thing Maya expects, coming out of the subway on her way home from work on a Friday night, is to see someone literally _fall from the sky_.

She’s simply walking along, headphones on and minding her own business, when she’s knocked to the ground with the force of the billowing white dress the girl is wearing - some kind of wedding getup, by the looks of things; maybe she's going to a fancy dress party and just got a little lost on the way.

“What the hell were you doing up there?” Maya demands, as soon as the two of them have picked themselves off the sidewalk, glaring up at the billboard the girl had fallen from like it has personally wronged her (and it kind of has). “Are you crazy or something?”

“I don’t know anymore,” the girl answers, and, as much as she hates to admit it, it tugs on Maya’s heartstrings a little, hearing her voice sound so small, so confused. “I’ve been walking quite some time, and no one’s been very nice to me, and -”

Maya has to snicker at that. “Yeah, well, welcome to New York, honey.”

The girl’s face softens into a smile almost immediately. “Thank you!”

Maya can’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. _Weird._

**/**

Maya wouldn’t consider herself the type to make stupid decisions, but here she is - standing in the elevator of her building with this stranger ( _Riley_ ), and inviting her into her home.

Zay is _definitely_ going to kill her after this.

“...and _then,_ ” Riley is saying, looking more and more impassioned by the moment, “the witch told me to look into the well and wish for my heart’s desire.”

“Uh hu,” Maya replies, only half listening. How the hell she’s going to explain this, she has _no_ idea.

“But I must have leaned too far.” There’s a slight frown on Riley’s face now as she contemplates this idea, knitting her brows together. “Because suddenly I was falling, and then I climbed out of that strange hole in the ground, and now here I am with you, peaches.”

“I told you -” Maya throws a disparaging look over her shoulder as they step out onto the tenth floor and head down the hall towards her apartment “- stop calling me that. My name is _Maya_.”

Riley carries on, undeterred. “It’s so nice of you to let me stay with you for a little bit. I won’t be a bother for long, I promise - I’m sure Lucas is already looking for me, anyway.”

Maya frowns. “Who?”

“My prince charming,” Riley says, without missing a beat, as if those words are normal, everyday things to say.

“Right.”

Apparently, her scepticism is leaking through; Riley’s frowning again. “Don’t you have a prince charming, peaches?”

“I don’t have a charming anyone - prince _or_ princess,” Maya replies, ignoring the nickname this time ( _peaches_ \- who the _hell_ decides to call someone _peaches_?) and then turns to step into her apartment before Riley can question it further.

**/**

It’s the next day when her guest says: “You know, I didn’t think I would find anyone either.”

Maya glances up from the sketch book balanced on her knee, distracted from her attempt at drawing the view of Central Park that sprawls in front of them. “What?”

“Yesterday, when I was telling you about Lucas?” Riley prompts, taking another bite of the ice cream Maya bought her. “You said you didn’t have anyone.”

“I don’t.”

“And I didn’t think I would either. But then Lucas crashed into my life - or, rather, I crashed into his. Quite literally, actually, because I tripped and fell in his lap.”

“A habit of yours, huh, honey?”

“Well,” Riley replies, smiling slightly, “usually someone is around to catch me.”

“Lucky you,” Maya says; if she had a dollar for every time she wished that someone could catch her when _she_ fell, metaphorically or otherwise, she’d have a small fortune by now. “Don’t expect too much of that in New York.”

“But _you_ caught me,” Riley insists, “and that must mean that there are good people in this place too.”

“People like your Lucas?”

“Exactly! Lucas caught me when I fell, and then look what happened - we went off into the sunset together.” She sighs then, in that lovesick way that only romantic heroines can, the way Maya thought only happened in movies and childhood stories. “To begin our happily ever after.”

“Went off into the sunset, did you?” Maya shakes her head, smiling at her own joke. “Bet he sat you on the back of his noble steed and whisked you away, huh?”

“Of course not.” Riley raises an eyebrow at that. “That would just be silly.”

“ _Silly_. Of course. I’m sorry I ever thought your precious Huckleberry cowboy would do such a thing.” The look on Riley’s face says she doesn’t get it. “Never mind.”

“We’re not talking about me, anyway, peaches," Riley says, moving on as the blonde attempts to go back to her drawing. "We’re talking about _you_ -”

Maya looks up again at that, and her tone is sharper than she means it to be. “I don’t need a _charming person_ to be happy, Riles.”

“I know that, peaches. But don’t you believe in true love?”

Maya snorts; her answer takes less than a second. “No.”

**/**

It’s true - Maya doesn’t believe in true love - but she’s starting to get the feeling that being around someone like Riley _could_ make her believe.

She has that effect on people, this aura around her that just makes people love the idea of love, makes people love _her_.

Perhaps most infuriatingly of all, Zay loves her too.

“She’s staying with us forever, right, Maya?” He asks one evening, when they’ve slipped into the kitchen to get snacks, now that they’ve got Riley very occupied with - and fascinated by - the first season of _Friends_.

“God, no.” Maya rescues the popcorn from the microwave, tipping it into the largest bowl she can find. “Just until her precious prince charming Sundance shows up - whenever that will be.”

Zay scoffs, as if he can see right through her feigned sense of nonchalance, because it’s probably not lost on either of them that Maya has started _noticing_ things - the way Riley’s hair curls around her face, the way her eyes light up when she sees something she loves on their trips around New York.

Maya realises, with a sudden sense of dread, that she’s hoping that this Lucas cowboy, or whatever he is, will just never show up, that Riley really will get to stay with them forever.

She’s always been just a little bit selfish like that.

**/**

Josh Matthews coming into the equation doesn’t help matters either.

“Maya.” His voice echoes from behind them as they’re wandering around Central Park - because she knows how much Riley loves the place - and Maya’s good mood sours almost instantly.

“Boing. What are you doing here in our neck of the woods? Aren’t you supposed to be penning hair-raising articles about the wildlife out in Philadelphia?”

“Unfortunately for you, no. I’m in town covering the King and Queen Costume Ball next weekend.” Josh passes her a flyer, one that she immediately passes off to Riley without even sparing it a glance. “Will I see you there?”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Maya gives him a once-over, trying to make it clear exactly what she thinks of this _costume ball_ , before she grabs Riley’s hand and begins dragging her up the path.

“Who was that?” Riley demands, as soon as they’re out of hearing range.

“Josh.”

Riley is quiet for a moment, still searching for that happy ending wherever she is. “Is he -?”

“ _No_. Not even close.”

Riley shakes her head, persistent. “But he _could_ be.”

“What, I’m just supposed to ask him out on a date? I don’t think so.”

Riley blinks. “Date?”

“Yes, Riles, a _date_.”

“Peaches, what’s a date?”

“You don’t know what a date is?” Riley shakes her head, and, after a moment, Maya does too. She’s not sure she’ll ever understand this strange world Riley claims to come from, one that seems further and further away from New York with every detail she learns. “It’s when two people who like each other go out to do stuff together. That’s the basic gist of it.”

“I see.” Riley ponders this, and then her eyes are sparkling, almost triumphant. “So _this_ is a date, then, peaches?”

“No!” Maya almost yelps, making Riley jump - not her intention, but she really can’t have that kind of idea going on, not when she knows Riley could be leaving her any day now. “Riles, this isn’t a date. We’re just friends.”

“But you said -”

“Dates are when people who have feelings for each other go out. _Romantic_ feelings.”

“People like me and Lucas?”

“Exactly.” Maya nods, pretending the sound of his name doesn’t leave a bad taste in her mouth.

“And you and Josh -”

“Boing? My prince charming? Not in a million years.”

“Why not? Sometimes all you need is a little bit of faith and you’ll be surprised at what can happen - oh, Peaches!” She waves the flyer from earlier, a sudden flurry of excitement. “Invite him out dancing on Saturday!”

“I don’t dance, honey.”

Riley’s face plummets in a second, as if she can’t even comprehend this concept. “Not at all?”

“Nope.”

“Well, how about dedicating a song -”

Maya cuts her off. “And I really don’t sing.”

**/**

Riley drops the subject until they’re seated in the window of Maya’s favourite coffee place, stirring her lemonade and watching the ice slowly dissolve into the drink.

“I’m sorry if I upset you earlier, Peaches.”

Maya sighs then, feeling guilty. It’s really not Riley’s fault that she has an unconscious habit of sabotaging all the good things in her life.

“No, honey, you didn’t upset me.” She reaches for Riley’s hand, squeezes it to comfort her. “You just have a lot to learn about normal life here, that’s all.”

Riley nods, and then squeezes Maya’s hand back. “I suppose you’re right.”

**/**

It’s early - _far too early_ \- on a Monday morning when the inevitable happens.

Still, Maya never imagined it happening whilst having her life threatened, whilst green eyes bore into hers, gaze unflinching.

“Any last words?”

Like hell is she going down without a fight; Maya narrows her eyes, injecting as much venom into her voice as possible.

“ _Bite me, you jerk._ ”

It does the job; it makes the stranger falter for a moment, saving her precious seconds.

“Those are some strange words, ma’am.”

“Wait!” Suddenly Riley is there, still sleep-rumpled and wearing one of Maya’s old painting shirts, jumping in between Maya and the wrong end of a sword. “Lucas, stop, it’s okay!”

Maya stares, incredulous, even though Riley takes no notice. “You’ve got to be kidding me. _This_ is Lucas the Huckleberry?”

Riley ignores her, still focused on their uninvited guest. “Maya’s my friend!”

“Friend?” Suddenly the sword is gone, replaced with a beaming smile. “Well, in that case -”

“Yeah.” Maya looks at the hand outstretched towards her. “No. Sorry. I don’t shake hands with people who just show up in my apartment, _or_ with people who threaten me.”

Riley pulls Lucas into a hug then, leaning back a few moments later to look at him properly.

“What are you _doing_ here?”

Lucas stares at her, a picture of confusion; Maya is too, in all honesty. “I’m here to take you home, Riley.”

“Home?” Riley frowns, as if she’d forgotten all about the life that waits for her in that place so far away from the harsh reality of New York - maybe that’s just wistful thinking on Maya’s part. She recovers a moment later, anyway, back to her usual beaming self. “Of course. It’s been too long. Only -”

“What?”

“There’s one thing I’d love to do before we go.”

“Name it,” Lucas assures her, like he’s one breath away from kneeling in front of her like he’s about to propose all over again. (Maya wants to roll her eyes to the heavens - or shed a few selfish tears at what’s coming next. She isn’t sure which yet.) “Anything you want.”

“I want to go on a date.”

“What’s a date?”

_Now_ Maya’s rolling her eyes. Do people not go through proper relationships in this strange world of theirs?

“Well,” Riley says, after glancing in Maya’s direction for encouragement, “we go out to spend time together, and we talk.”

Lucas stares at her, incredulous. “ _Talk?_ ”

“About ourselves. Our likes, our dislikes. Our interests.”

“I’ve never heard of the concept before.”

“Neither had I. Maya’s been teaching me so much.”

Riley flashes her a smile then, softness in her eyes and oh, so beautiful. Maya just about manages one in response.

**/**

She paces around her empty apartment for nearly half an hour after Riley leaves; it’s too quiet, silent enough that she can hear every creak that her feet coax out of the floorboards. Already, the magic of the place is slipping away without that real-life princess to hold it there.

It’s getting on for an hour of pacing when she eventually picks up the phone, calling the first person she can think of.

“Maya?”

“Boing,” she greets, off-handed as always, and then launches into her question before he can reply. “What are you doing Saturday night?”

**/**

Josh is apprehensive about this - this _plan_ of hers - but he goes along with it anyway, knows that he’s not going to stop Maya Hart once she gets an idea. Besides, looking out for each other is what friends do, right?

And that’s exactly what Maya is doing here: looking out for her friend.

When Riley collapses in the middle of the dance floor, into the arms of some woman she doesn’t know, Maya is the first to her side.

“It’s her fault!” Someone is shouting in the background, pointing at the strange woman accusingly. “She sent Riley here in the first place! She poisoned her!”

“ _You_ did this?” Lucas demands, anger evident in his voice, but Maya barely hears him because her mind still stuck on _poisoned_ , the word running over and over like a continuous loop.

Riley is _dying_ and there’s no way of waking her, asking her what to do.

Lucas, thinking like the fairytale Huckleberry he is, is the one that brings up the idea of true love’s kiss - and Maya’s too caught up in this bizarre version of reality that she’s been living in these past couple of weeks to disagree with him. It still doesn’t stop her from having to look away when Lucas moves to kiss Riley, albeit vowing to look back the second that the brunette is awake again, even if she’ll be singing Lucas’ praises for as long as they all live.

But then Lucas lets out a wordless yell of frustration and Maya’s attention is drawn back to them - because Riley isn’t waking up.

“How could that not work?” She yells then, glaring at Lucas even if her anger is unjustified. “You’re supposed to be the prince charming who saves the day! Hurry up and save it!”

“I _can’t_ ,” Lucas replies, and for a moment he looks as helpless as Maya feels. Until - “You try.”

“ _Me?_ ” It’s like someone has just pulled the floor out from under her. “What are you _talking_ about? You’re Riley’s Huckleberry.”

“And for the entire day, all she wanted to talk about was _you_. You’re her Peaches.”

And isn’t that just the truth of it? Somewhere along the line, she’s become Riley’s, for better or worse.

When she takes Lucas’ place, kneels down and kisses Riley as softly as she can, watches as her eyes flutter open and meet her gaze, she knows that isn’t ever going to change.

“ _Peaches_ ,” Riley says, staring up at her like she’s personally gone and hung the moon, and Maya has never loved hearing that stupid nickname more in her life.

And then all hell breaks loose around them.

**/**

She loses sight of Riley pretty early on in the battle - Josh whisks her out of the way as the trouble starts, which earns him a mouthful of colourful language because she’s supposed to be looking out for her girl right now - but she soon manages to catch up with her (ex) prince charming. Lucas has gone and gotten himself kidnapped by the witch - dragon, now; Maya’s done questioning it all - who is climbing up the side of the building, Huckleberry dangling from her grasp.

Riley, to her credit, _tries_ to catch him in the aftermath of her victory - of course, it only ends with the two of them landing in a heap at Maya’s feet.

“Is this a habit of yours, Huckleberry?” She asks, cheerful, perhaps enjoying the sight of it all a bit too much. “Falling off of stuff?”

Lucas groans, tries to duck his head. “Don’t look at me.”

Riley helps him to his feet all the same, and then pauses, looking guilty. It’s not like they’ve had a chance to talk about everything that’s just gone down tonight.

“Lucas...I -”

“I’ll be fine.” His gaze flickers in Maya’s direction, if only to flash her a reassuring smile. “Go on, Peaches is waiting for you.”

Perhaps he’s not so bad, that Huckleberry.

**/**

“I got you your favourite, Peaches.”

Maya looks up from her sketchbook, nestled in the window of her usual coffee shop, smiling when she’s met with the sight of Riley walking towards her, two steaming mugs of coco in her hands and a smile on her face. She’s caught in the slant of late afternoon sunshine befalling New York City, turning her gold. A true princess, forever and always.

_Maya’s_ princess, forever and always.

“Thanks, Honey.”

**Author's Note:**

> idk if this was good or not, but thank the lord i actually finished something for once.


End file.
